Bautista Keen To Forget Day One At Mugello

Alvaro Bautista described Friday as “a day to forget” after he crashed twice during practice for the Italian Grand Prix. The Spaniard lost control on both occasions at San Donato and says there is a lot of work ahead in order to perfect the set-up in time for qualifying.

“Today was a day to forget, unfortunately not a good one for us. This morning I had a problem with the brakes and ran straight into turn one, then crashed in the gravel. We didn’t manage to solve the problem and I wasn’t able to ride as I want. In the afternoon we worked on the set-up but I crashed almost straight away, losing the front with no warning. I changed onto the other bike but the brake problem hadn’t been fixed and I was really struggling under braking. We changed the disc and pads and managed to put some decent laps together at the end on used tyres. But we have a lot of work to do tomorrow to improve my confidence and my position.”

San Carlo Honda Gresini teammate Michele Pirro was fourteenth but trailed the leading CRT bikes from the Aspar team by a full second. The Italian is hopeful of closing that gap though as he gets to grips with the circuit.

“This is the first time at this track so the others have an advantage having already ridden here. We are slightly more behind the best CRT than we have been in recent weeks, when we have been really close. Obviously we will keep working to reduce the gap and I am optimistic we can do it.”